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Published 19 Sep, 2023 10:45am

Musk to charge fee from X users to combat fake accounts

Elon Musk has hinted that using X, formerly known as Twitter, might cost a small monthly fee in a move to deal with the problem of fake accounts, also known as bots, India Today reported.

During a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 18, Musk did not explain what the subscription cost would be, he noted that it would be a way for the platform to combat bots.

The tech billionaire also revealed that the platform has 550 million users who use the platform every month and create between 100 to 200 million posts every day.

However, he did not clarify how many of these users were real people and not bots, and shied away from comparing these numbers to what Twitter had before he took over.

Musk’s discussion with Netanyahu was supposed to be discussing the potential risks of advanced technology like artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated.

Soon after taking charge of Twitter for $44 billion, Musk brought significant changes to the platform including allowing previously banned accounts, such as former US President Donald Trump’s, to return.

He also did away with the “blue check” verification system that identified accounts of famous people.

At present, anyone can get a blue badge next to their name if they pay a fee and their posts get more visibility. The owner of X believed the changes will discourage the use of bots on the platform.

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